Our First Pumpkin Patch

Because I have a boyfriend and he’s never (really) celebrated the holidays!!!

Yes, you read that correctly. A grown 24 year-old man has never truly celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

My boyfriend, Bret, and I started dating in May, but we’ve known each other for a long time. He recently left the church he grew up in and can now make his own way.

So naturally I decided he needed to do that by going all out for the three biggest holidays of the year.

We grew very differently. My family goes all out for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We decorate every inch of our house, bake desserts and cook food to our little hearts content, and we play an excessive amount of Christmas movies and music (even when it’s not December). On the other hand, Bret grew up in a family that doesn’t celebrate holidays.

The first major thing we did this year was go to a pumpkin patch. We went to Bates Nut Farm with my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I was for this trip.

Luckily in Southern California, there are a ton of places to get pumpkins. Bates is probably one of the more well-known places. But if you travel to Ramona, Julian, or Valley Center, there are plenty of family farms. If you don’t want to travel that far to get pumpkins on a family farm, you can easily find a little makeshift farm in a town in San Diego County. Tom’s Adventures is a local favorite!

Bates Nut Farm is a great place to spend time with family. In addition to the field and mounds of pumpkins, Bates has two cute gift shops, games and face painting, and a petting zoo. We fed some of the goats and sheep, and we almost walked out of the gift shops with more Christmas decorations.

Besides spending the morning with my family, one of my favorite moments was Bret pushing Layla (my niece) in the wheelbarrow all around the farm. At one point she asked him: “Am I your nephew?”

First of all, how stinkin’ adorable is she? She’s 11 years old and truly the person who makes my heart beat. We have such a special bond and I always tell people how much she means to me.

Secondly, I am seeing a common thread among young kids who think their “status” changes depending on if they have an aunt or uncle. Know what I mean? She thought if she has an uncle, then she is a nephew, and if she has an aunt, then she is a niece.

Well, I set her straight, but it kept Bret and I smiling for the rest of the day.

Now that we have our pumpkins, we need to think of a design and carve them. I suggested Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Although we may come up with something super random! And, not to toot my own horn, but pumpkin carving is a certain non-resume skill I happen to excel at.

Have you and your family gotten your pumpkins or visited a pumpkin patch this month? If so, what design do you plan on carving into your pumpkin?
Let me know in the comments below!

My Fall To-Do List:Make s’mores over an open fireGo to a pumpkin patchMake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
Wear every blanket scarf in my closet
Play in a pile of leaves
Carve a pumpkinGo for a night stroll
Visit the farmers market
Go apple pickingMake chili and have a living room picnic
Go through a corn maze
Have a Halloween movie marathon (minimum of 3 movies)
Go on a hike